


love you

by rxinbowrena



Series: besotted with KuroKen [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Coming Out, Confessions, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Getting Together, Heterochromia, Hinata Shouyou & Kozume Kenma Friendship, Hinata Shouyou is Sunshine, Jealousy, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Nonbinary Kozume Kenma, Not Beta Read, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:14:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29827575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rxinbowrena/pseuds/rxinbowrena
Summary: They're just so dumb sometimes.They know they're soulmates, so why are they ignoring it?
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Series: besotted with KuroKen [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2192742
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	1. neglect

**Author's Note:**

> HETEROCHROMIA SOULMATE AU:  
> soulmates have heterochromia from the day they are born.  
> (in terms of relationship wise) the closer the soulmates are, the more the heterochromia fades into their natural eye colour. with that said, the more they drift apart, the more intensely their heterochromia comes back.

> **EVERY CHILD IS** born with heterochromia, where one eye colour would be from their genetic DNA while the other was their soulmate’s. 

Kenma was not an exception. His left eye was a bright and beautiful shade of golden while his right was a deep shade of amber that almost looked like light brown. He loved them and the way they looked.

When he was seven, he was forced out of his room to meet his neighbour and that was when he made his first friend by himself: Kuroo Tetsurou. He liked his friend’s eyes—they looked like his, but flipped around.

At age twelve, he watched as his friend got his first confession letter… and accepted it. He didn’t know what he was meant to feel for his best friend. Proud? Happy? Excited?  He chose to simply congratulate him and left it at that. Although, there was a slight tickling feeling in his stomach that wanted to make him puke. Did it make him a bad friend if he said that he wanted them to break up…?

As their relationship dragged on and on, Kenma noticed that his heterochromia was slowly fading back and suddenly, he didn’t like the way his eyes shine anymore.

> Age sixteen:

**He found this** ginger haired male intriguing. He was from Karasuno and no matter how much Kenma tried to shake him off, he still attempted to initiate a conversation. 

And then he finally gave in. 

The energetic orange boy introduced himself as Hinata Shouyou and that he played volleyball and was a middle blocker. He kept asking questions and even complimented Kenma’s eyes, which caused a faint shade of pink to brush over his cheeks.

The cat-like male liked the way Hinata’s eyes looked as well, so as the other was ranting, he suddenly interrupted, “Your eyes are pretty… too…” It was true, though; his left was chocolate brown while his right was dark blue. Only when Hinata paused, did Kenma realise he said it out loud. “O–Oh, I— uh…” He looked down as a visible blush painted his face.

“Kenma.”

Both Hinata and Kenma turned to the black haired male and the Nekoma player packed whatever he took out and hauled the bag over his shoulder. When he reached his raven friend, he sent a slight smile and wave to his new friend. “See you soon.” Then, he walked forward, but after taking a few steps, he noticed Kuroo wasn’t following him. “Kuro.”

The black haired male snapped out of his blank stare and turned to face the front, following after Kenma. A few minutes passed before he broke it. “Who was that? A new friend?” He meant it in a teasing manner, not expecting when Kenma replied with a small and quiet “Yeah”. Then, it fell back into silence. “Do I know him?”

“No.”

“What’s his name?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

Kuroo frowned. “Kenma, are you hiding—”

The other’s eyes locked on something and he started jogging. “There’s the bus.”

In the blink of an eye, a few months passed and it was suddenly time for the two-day training camp at his school. He was… somewhat excited for it this year because his coach told him that Karasuno was joining; Karasuno meant Hinata Shouyou and Shouyou meant fun.

But, as it turned out, Shouyou and his setter couldn’t join in because they failed their exams. Kenma simply replied with a small “oh” before focusing his attention back on his game.  _ It’s okay, _ he told himself,  _ Shouyou wouldn’t miss out on anything volleyball. _

He was right on that. As always.

When the games ended for the day, he invited Shouyou to join him in Nekoma’s bedroom and was glad that he agreed. Since Inuoka showered and came out at the same time he and Hinata did, he decided to tag along as well.

The futons were already all laid out when they arrived and Kuroo chose the third and second bed to the wall, so Kenma sat on the raven’s futon and told Hinata to sit on his while Inuoka sat on the one closest to the wall before taking out his Nintendo switch to play. 

“Your quick was amazing as ever, Shouyou,” Inuoka praised.

Shouyou smiled gratefully. “Thanks!” He looked down at his feet. “But at this rate, nothing’s going to change.”

The room fell silent for a few seconds.

“Hey, Shouyou,” Kenma called, causing the other two to look at him. “Your eyes aren’t the same as last time—they’re both brown now. Guess you two figured it out, huh?”

That seemed to bring him back into the real world. “Huh? Oh, yeah!” he replied happily. “I still can’t believe it's Kageyama and it’s kinda funny because the foundation in our relationship is volleyball!”

“Sounds about right.”

* * *

**“KURO, GET OFF** me. I need to pee.”

His friend only grumbled in his sleep and pulled him closer into his embrace. 

“Kuroo.” Kenma poked his cheek. “Let go of me.” The raven furrowed his eyebrows and held onto his waist tighter.  _ This is not making my bladder any better. _ “Tetsurou, let me go.” That seemed to stir him a bit. “ _ Tetsu _ . Now.”

Kuroo peeked an eye open and frowned, huffing as he opened his arms to free Kenma. He grabbed his friend’s pillow and cuddled it in an alternative form of him for the time being. He closed his eyes. “Come back quickly.”

Kenma unplugged his phone to use as a flashlight. “Yeah, okay.” His trip there was quick and silent and he arrived back in the bedroom in no time. He placed his phone next to his bed before carefully taking the pillow out of Kuroo’s embrace and sliding into his arms in a practiced habit.

He buried his face into the pillow and hugged it closer as his best friend’s outer arm circled around his waist to pull him in tighter for a cuddle while his other arm was a makeshift pillow for Kenma. The raven’s forehead fell on the blond’s shoulder and Kenma could feel Kuroo’s relaxed rhythmic breathing on his back.

With the comfortable positioning, the kitten easily fell back asleep.

* * *

**A WEEK QUICKLY** passes after that and then it was time for the summer training camp at Shinzen High School in Saitama. He and Kuroo both went to greet Karasuno at their bus’ parking lot. Well, it's more like he greeted Hinata and Kuroo greeted the others.

Then, Shouyou did the dumbest thing and asked if a transmission tower was the Skytree. Kenma simply told him that it definitely wasn’t and that “this isn’t even Tokyo”.

* * *

**IT WAS LIKE** watching Kuroo fall in love with someone else again and Kenma still couldn’t do anything but stand by the sidelines.

He had walked past Kuroo, Bokuto, Akaashi and Tsukishima practicing. Nothing was wrong, in a sense, but he was still sad for some reason. Luckily, a particular sunshine decided to come by and brighten up his night.

“Kenma! Kenma! Kenma!” Shouyou ran to him while holding a volleyball. “Can you please, please,  _ please _ set to me?” 

The blond wanted to object and tell him that he was already tired and done for the day, but how could he ever say no to sparkling puppy dog eyes? He sighed. “Five tosses.” They entered an empty gym that already had been set up and immediately headed for a court. “And you’re cleaning up.”

He could hear Hinata cheering from behind him as he went to drag out the ball cart.

Five tosses later, Sunshine was still calling for more and Kenma huffed, giving in without any thought.  _ Maybe I’m spoiling him too much? _ he thought to himself as he tossed the seventh ball to Hinata.  _ Just for today. It’s not like he’s gonna ask me everyday. _

* * *

**TURNED OUT, JUST** tossing to Shouyou once meant that you were subscribing to his volleyball antics for more than one day. However, on the bright side, he noted that the ginger was in the process of learning how to hit every set: lazy, high, too far, etcetera, but he somewhat preferred tosses that reached up high before falling to his hand. A high toss. 

Great. Kenma learnt something about him. 

On the third night, the kitten tried to sneak away from the bright ball of sunshine before the other could notice and he thought it worked. Well, it _did_ , until Hinata suddenly bursted into Nekoma’s bedroom, brown-blue heterochromia eyes nearly glowing. “Kenma!” he shouted and ran into the room, heading over to his friend. “Set some tosses for me!”

The people in the room watched with wide eyes when Kenma didn’t object against him, only sighing and choosing to follow the other out. They all thought of the same thing:  _ But Kenma  _ **_never_ ** _ willingly sets for either of us…?  _ They decided to keep it a secret because maybe, just  _ maybe _ , it was a one time thing.

Kenma had tossed about fourteen times that night before he decided that it was enough for the night. “Shouyou,” he called from where he sat on the stairs, watching Hinata as he picked up the balls. “What’s wrong?” He saw the other stiffen. “Don’t even try to get out of this one. I always set more than you ask me to and this is how I decided you’ll repay me.”

The younger didn’t answer for a bit. “What do you want to know about what's wrong?”

“Your soulmate problem, Shouyou,” he replied. “I want to know what’s wrong. Why are you coming to me instead of him? Why aren’t you guys talking anymore? Why is your heterochromia back?” He stared at the other. “Tell me everything. Talk to me.”

“We had a fight.”

“Yeah, that’s obvious. About volleyball?”

Hinata nodded stiffly.

“Why?”

“I just wanted to try out something new for our quick attack, we tried it for a bit but he rejected that idea.” He attempted to shrug nonchalantly. “Nothing much.”

Kenma sighed, realising that Shouyou won’t go into details. “Will you tell me everything that happened if I told you something I have never told anyone before?”

“Anyone?” the ginger questioned. “Not even Kuroo-san?”

The blond shook his head. “Not even Kuroo.”

The shorter paused, contemplating his options before nodding. “Okay!” He then took the next half an hour of their time explaining everything as to what he remembered. “That’s basically it. Now’s your turn!”

The setter huffed. “Fine but you’ll have to promise me that you won’t tell a single soul, okay?” His friend nodded excitedly and he took a deep breath to soothe his nerves. “I actually identify as non-binary.” The room went silent. The world went silent. Just for a second. His fear overtook him when the middle blocker didn’t reply. “… Shouyou…?”

“That is so cool!” Hinata gaped before lowering his voice into a whisper, “Wait. Have I been calling you the wrong pronouns?”

Kenma chuckled. Actually chuckled. “No, I don’t mind he/him pronouns. You can use my they/them pronouns when we’re alone but please don't use them in public.” His eyes narrowed. “And definitely don’t out me or talk to anyone about me being nb because absolutely no one other than you knows about it. I’m serious.”

Hinata saluted. “Yes, sir!”

* * *

**“YOU'RE NOT SLEEPING** next to Kuroo again?” Yaku questioned. “What’s going on between you two?”

Kenma plugged his phone to charge and took out his Nintendo switch, intent on playing his games until Kuroo arrived. “Nothing’s going on.”

“You can’t seriously tell us that there’s no tension between the both of you,” the ‘mum’ of the cats deadpanned. “It's either you two are avoiding one another, you’re avoiding him, or he’s avoiding you.” He pointed at Lev. “For god’s sake, even the freakin’ donkey notices this!”

“Hey!”

Kenma stared down at his game and clenched his grip on it. There’s no way he can focus on the game now. “I’m tired.” He placed his switch next to him and got under the covers. “Good night.”

“Kenma,” Kai called but the other didn’t give a single hint of response, choosing to face the wall instead. “Kenma… what has gotten into you…?” A few minutes passed and the pudding-head didn’t reply, his body slowly falling and rising was the only thing that told the others he was still alive and well. “… Okay, then. Good night.”

“Kenma! You won’t believe—!” Kuroo stopped when he realised that the other was sleeping. “Sleeping already? Jeez, I never thought you’d actually take me seriously.” He hummed and stepped over to the futon next to his best friend. “Oya? He didn’t occupy a futon for me again?” He sighed dramatically. “Guess I’ll just have to squeeze in one futon with him again—”

“Kuroo-san.” Shibayama hesitated. “M–Maybe you should just let him sleep alone for tonight.” He glanced away to avoid his senpai’s stare. “He seemed pretty upset earlier.”

The older male blinked in confusion, hand instinctively beginning to play with the other’s long hair. “Well, I’m sure some cuddles will be enough to—”

“He was mad at you,” Yaku interjected before anything got out of hand. “I don’t know what the fuck you did to make him finally snap but you did it. Congratulations,” he commented sarcastically. “Now you better fucking fix it.”

Kuroo’s hand that was petting Kenma’s head paused as his eyes grew wide.  **_Kenma_ ** _? Mad at  _ **_me_ ** _?  _ He looked down at his best friend.  _ Impossible. I refuse. _ “But I didn’t even do anything! I’m innocent!”

“Maybe that’s the problem.” Shibayama snapped his fingers. “Maybe it’s not that you didn’t do anything  _ to _ him but you never did anything  _ with _ him. I’ve noticed that you’ve been hanging out with Bokuto-san, Akaashi-san and Tsukishima after hours and never request a hang out or practice with him anymore.” He smiled, proud of himself and his observations. “Therefore, Kenma is feeling neglected and that is why he’s hanging out with Hinata more!”

That seemed to catch Kuroo’s attention. “He’s hanging out with Hinata?”

“Jeez, you didn’t realise that earlier? Even Lev knows.” Yaku patted his back. “You better get your head out of the Tsukishima clouds and come back to Earth, otherwise you really  _ might _ lose Kenma forever.” He said that in a joking tone. No harm, right?

Internally, Kuroo was panicking and he could only let out one word: “What.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Kuroo and his girlfriend broke up when he left middle school.  
> 2\. No, I don't know why they won't just talk about being soulmates.


	2. getting together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yay ^^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * about 0.001% jealousy  
> * fluff towards the end  
> * bold Kenma? 😳  
> * fluffy KuroKen?? 😳 😳  
> * short, sorry,,

**THE ENTIRE NEKOMA** team was awakened by an unholy scream produced by Kuroo Tetsurou the next morning.

“Holy hell, Kuroo!” Yaku yelled. “The fuck is wrong with you?! Some of us want to sleep! And it’s what”—he glanced at the clock—“nine in the fucking morning! N I N E !” 

Kuroo, as if he was deaf, ignored Yaku and proceeded to shout, “Kenma’s missing!”

“Kenma-san’s not missing,” Lev replied groggily, “he’s right—” He looked to the setter’s empty bed. “KENMA-SAN’S MISSING!”

“Let’s all calm down,” Kai ordered peacefully. “Maybe he’s in the toilet?”

Their captain looked like he was about to have a panic attack. “He’s not! I checked!”

“Oh! Kenma-san,” Shibayama piped in happily, as if the room wasn’t falling into complete and utter chaos. “He went to practice with Shouyou sometime earlier in the morning. Maybe around eight? Hinata seemed really stressed when he came in.”

Yaku perked an eyebrow. “He went willingly?”

The first-year bursted out into light giggles. “Since when does Kenma-san ever go anywhere willingly in the morning? He only woke up and followed Hinata out because he didn’t want to wake the rest of you up. They were arguing behind the door for a minute or two before they left with Kenma-san whining.”

“We better get ready, though, practice starts at ten,” Kai said. “You can rest more, if you’d like but don’t be late later on.”

* * *

**THE TEAM WAS** shocked when they arrived at the gym. They were expecting a simple toss-spike practice but, instead, they were watching a four-player practice match between Konoha, Sugawara, Hinata and Kenma.

Best part yet: the four didn’t even seem to notice that they had arrived, so they continued to play on like before without a care.

The ball was in Konoha’s grasps and he bounced it multiple times to better concentrate and get used to the feel of it. He then tossed the ball in the air and went in for a spike serve.

Kenma, being the better of the two at receiving, hastily moved over to the ball and sent it over the net. Sugawara dug it and Konoha setted it high, allowing the grey haired male to spike it.

This time, it was Hinata that bumped the ball up. Kenma jogged to get under the ball and set it in a high toss to Shouyou. The ginger did his running jump and quickly spiked it down onto the other team’s side of the court.

Konoha easily received it and Suga ran below to bring it into the air for the dirty blond haired male to kill. Kenma jumped up in an attempt to block the ball but it only resulted in a last minute wipe. 

When he landed, he turned to his teammate, watching in satisfaction when he saw Hinata already there and passing it back to him. He jumped and spiked it against Konoha’s block; a rebound. The ginger bumped it back up and swiftly started his run up before leaping into the air. Kenma reached the ball and gracefully sent it directly to Shouyou. In response, Hinata spiked the ball down on the other team’s court—their first minus tempo attack.

It was a point.

“Let’s go, Kenma-san!” Lev cheered from the sidelines of where Nekoma was watching. 

The cat on the court froze visibly before he turned around to face his team with wide eyes.  _ When did they get here?! _

Kuroo, noticing his best friend’s shock, attempted to somewhat console him from afar. “Oh, calm down, kitten. We only just arrived during Konoha’s most recent spike serve!” His smile would seem innocent to a stranger from afar, but Kenma was his best friend and knew that  _ that _ particular smile was to warn him to move away before he intervened.

There was no danger around him, though, so he stayed in place and turned to his redhead friend. “Shouyou, I’m exhausted, can I rest now?”

“Uwah!” Hinata exclaimed in protest. “But it’s only been five serves into our first set!”

Kenma wanted to scream. “But we practiced for forty-five minutes before that. My arms are tired and the official practice matches start about fifty minutes from now.” 

“We can still play for twenty more minutes!” the ginger tried to bargain, but his setter friend didn’t seem moved. He brought out his last weapon: the puppy dog eyes. “Please!”

“Oya? What’s this?” An arm slung over the blond’s shoulders. “Are you trying to inveigle my setter into playing more volleyball with you?” His words had a sickly sweet tune to it. “If he tells you that he doesn’t want to play anymore”—his voice dropped from the fake tone to a dead one—“don’t force him.” Then, he turned Kenma around. “Have a nice day!”

They walked past the team as Kuroo led his best friend out of the gym. This is the most they have interacted since they got here. The small kitten, overwhelmed, moved to push his friend’s arm off his shoulders. “Thank you for helping, Kuroo.” 

However, that action only did the opposite and got the black cat to tighten his grip. “You knew what I wanted you to do, Kenma, you saw the sign. Why didn’t you listen?”

“I didn’t see anything, Kuro,” Kenma protested.

“Kenma.” Kuroo’s voice was dead serious. “Why didn’t you follow the rules?”

Something about his best friend actually being mad at him made the younger tear up. “I’m sorry.” He attempted to apologise in a straight tone without wavering but the gentle traces on his shoulder got to him. “I–I’m sorry, Kuro,” he sobbed. “I just—”

Kuroo led him inside the building. “C’mon, let’s get you inside and bathe.”

* * *

**TETSUROU HAD ALREADY** texted their coach that he and Kenma would not be attending morning practice due to personal reasons and he granted them permission to skip out. He had also already set up two futons side by side one another just in case Kenma wanted to sleep and rest.

The tired, little calico kitten padded through the doors and into their best friend’s open arms. They nuzzled into the warm embrace.  _ “I love you.” _

“What?” Kuroo questioned. 

Kenma was quick to correct himself. “Your hugs. I love your hugs.”

He was certain his raven haired friend knew what they said originally, due to the fact that he narrowed his eyebrows ever so slightly. “Hm… okay!” If he did, they were glad he didn’t push on it. Kuroo nuzzled his face into his best friend’s neck. “I love your cuddles, too!” He pulled Kozume down with him as he fell backwards onto the futon.

The blond landed on his chest and simply decided that it was too comfortable to get up from. “Gonna take a nap now,” he informed simply while his arms wrapped around the raven’s body to pull him impossibly closer. “Night.”

There was a light, gentle, sweet kiss on his forehead. “Sweet dreams.”

* * *

**“KENMA, I WANT** to talk to you.” Kuroo’s thumb was tracing circles on the back of Kenma’s soft hand while their fingers were interlaced in a tight hold together. “About you hanging out with Hinata and… me and Tsukishima.” The blond stiffened and his grip tightened. The raven kissed their neck in an attempt of reassuring the other. “Nothing bad, I promise.”

The blond somewhat relaxed in his hold and the raven took that as a sign to continue. “I want to apologise for leaving you out and making you feel lonely to the point where you had to find Hinata to entertain yourself.”

“Kuro, if you don’t know what you’re apologising for, don’t.”

“Right, right, sorry.” Tetsurou brought Kenma’s hand to his lips and kissed them gently. “Sorry for neglecting you these past few days… but the truth is… I don’t want to be your best friend anymore.” He held their hand to his lips and kissed them again, just as softly as before, eyes focusing on the other’s face. “I wanna be your boyfriend.” He kept his lips on the blond’s hand as he specified: “Please be my boyfriend.”

Kenma watched with a shocked expression. “That was… surprisingly smooth,” he commented. “But no, I won’t be your boyfriend.”

That seemed to shatter the raven’s heart. “What?” he uttered in depressing sadness. “Why?”

“Tetsu, shut up a bit.” The blond giggled. They pulled his best friend’s head down so that they could kiss his forehead. “You can be my boyfriend but I can’t be your boyfriend if I’m non-binary, Tetsu. I’ll gladly be your joyfriend, though.”

He heard Kuroo let out an audible sigh of relief. “Oh, my god. Kenma, you were about to make me cry.” He circled his arms around the enby. “You’re nb, baby?” He kissed their forehead and continued before the other could reply: “I’m so glad you figured your identity out. So fucking proud of you, kitten.”

“Is this where all your stupid, cheesy pet names start coming out?” Kozume questioned. Their tone was light and in ease, devoid of all tension as they enjoyed their time with their boyfriend.

> The truth is: they weren’t ignoring the fact that they were soulmates, they were simply letting true love take its course naturally.

* * *

* * *

**BONUS:**

**“WE'RE BACK, BABY!”** was how Kuroo announced his and Kozume's arrival at the canteen. He had an arm slung over the shorter and almost immediately, an orange ball of happiness was bounding over to them. 

“Kenma!” he greeted and bowed a firm ninety degrees. “I’m so sorry if it looked like I was manipulating you earlier! I apologise!”

The blond smiled. “Uh, it’s okay, Shouyou. You only wanted to play more.” He noticed that some were beginning to turn to them. “You can get up now. Seriously, please get up.”

Hinata straightened and leaned in to ask Kenma: “Do you think you’re free to set some tosses to me tonight?”

“Ah, ah, no.” Tetsurou placed a hand between his partner and his friend, gently pulling the former to him. “Kenma’s spending the night with me tonight, okay? Go bother your own setter. You’ve got two of them.” 

Kenma looked away with a blush dusting his cheeks. “Kuro…”

The third-year wrapped his arms around his lover’s slimmer waist. “If I gotta miss out on some blocking for my joyfriend, then you gotta skip out on some setting for your boyfriend, too.”

The blond turned back to his friend in front of them. “Sorry, Shouyou…” They slung an arm over his boyfriend’s neck and pulled him down to plant a light and quick peck on his cheek. “Clingy boyfriend calls tonight.”

There was a girlish squeal from the Nekoma’s table. “KuroKen!” There were claps, shouts and congratulations from everywhere around them and that was when Kenma remembered that they were in the canteen; a public area.

They hid their face in their hands as a pink blush decorated their skin.

“Congrats on announcing we’re official, babe,” Tetsurou whispered in a slightly husky baritone voice into the blond’s already pink-tipped ear that was growing redder by the second.

“You’re such an asshole,” Kenma commented. “And real fucking lucky I love you too much not to murder you.”

The raven let out a chuckle. “I love you too, kitten.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wanna stick around for a bonus chapter?


End file.
